"S.F. GOURMET DOGS," by John Woolley / 10 years old
Interview by Rob
Carey
USk Kandern
(Germany) correspondent
As a fifth-grade teacher who loves to draw, I am always
interested when I see students of mine who show a certain talent
and special interest in the arts. As a young boy growing up, my
school papers were often covered with doodles and drawings, to
the annoyance of my teachers. It is for this reason I often
encourage my students to draw when they are finished with their
work, so long as it's not in the borders of their school work,
that is.
Recently, I have encountered a frequent contributor to the Urban
Sketchers Flickr pool who shows amazing talent. He is only 10
years old, and his name is John
Woolley.
A quick perusal of John's sketches reveals his pure love of
drawing. He draws almost everything and anything, filling
sketchbooks and journals with sketches of animals, cars,
buildings, kitchen appliances, bongo drums, fire hydrants, and
motorcycles. He even drew a tooth after he had lost it. After
showing some of my students samples of John's sketches, they
were amazed a boy their own age had such talent. His sense of
proportion and perspective, and his use of cross-hatching and
composition are exceptional.
Having grown up in California, John's sketches include scenes
from Lake Tahoe, Balboa Park, San Francisco, and Yosemite.
Living now in Temecula affords him the opportunity to sketch at
local wineries and horse ranches. I recently interviewed John
about his developing talent in art for Urban Sketchers, and he
was excited for the opportunity.
"TREFETHEN WINERY,"
by John Woolley / 10 years old
Q. When did you first start
drawing and why?
A. About a year or more ago I went into a backpacking store and
found up on the counter a little stapled booklet called Moonlight
Chronicles. The book was free so I grabbed one and began
looking through the pages. I got so into it that I stapled my
own booklet, called it Backyard
Journals, and began flipping through and began writing and
drawing about my daily life. That’s how it all began. Soon
after buying more “Moonlight Chronicles” from Dan Price I
sent him some of my drawings. He liked them a lot and wanted to
put me in one of his Chronicles as guest artist. I ended up
being in two of them, issues 66 and 68. I started to research
more artists, began using different size moleskines and using
all the different pens I could find. Then I started using
watercolors.
Q. What locations do you like to
draw?
A. Because I am so young it’s kind of hard for me to have my
dad just drop me off to sit and draw by myself. My mom and dad
do spend time with me drawing outside though. I draw while they
walk around. I like all kinds of areas, cities, small towns,
parks, zoo’s, the mountains.
Q. How did you find out about
Urban Sketchers?
A. I’ve known about Urban Sketchers for awhile, but I never
really got into it. I found out about them from my Flickr
gallery. I put all of my art pieces on Flickr and then put them
into groups.
"EUBIE IN CONCERT,"
New Orleans, by John Woolley / 10 years old
Q. What are your favorite
subjects to draw and how do you go about sketching them? What
materials do you use?
A. I wouldn’t say I have a favorite subject to draw, but
sometimes I’ll draw an item a couple of times, like maybe a
pinecone, or a key, etc. When I sketch I’ll do it in a number
of ways depending on what I am drawing. If it is something very
detailed I’ll come in and I’ll finish one section first,
then move onto the next, slowly building up the drawing. Then
other ways I like to get the foundation down first and then fill
in all the details. So I’ll use a number of different things
to draw and paint with. I have lots of pens, microns, uni-balls,
rapidographs, pitt pens and dip pens. Then I’ll color them in
with watercolors or ink jar. You could say that I have a good
sized studio that is filled with things. I like to draw and
paint a lot of different things. I don’t have any favorite
subjects.
Q. What artists or particular
style of art most inspires you and why?
A. This would be hard to say. Most of the artists I’ve come to
know are very good, generally people who can go supreme in
detail like Mattias
Adolfson and Tommy
Kane. Then the other artists like Leslie Brenden ( GunnerGirl
), Dan Price
and Tim Cantor amaze me
just the same. Very detailed. Ralph
Mcquarrie was the guy that did the Star Wars and he is a big
inspiration for me.
Q. What goals do you have for
yourself with art? What do you picture yourself doing in the
future with your talent for art?
A. I’d like to see how many sketchbooks I can make over the
years. I would like to be successful and be able to do my art
professionally so that I have a nice life. I would like to be a
famous artist one day if possible.
"SWIMMING POOL," by
John Woolley / 4th grade
Q. What could you tell us about
your family?
A. My mom is an accountant and she likes to do arts and crafts.
My dad works at home. He is a consultant for buyers and sellers
around the world who want to sell or buy land in the Fiji
Islands. He likes music and plays the piano and drums. The only
other person in my house is me.
Q. Who has motivated you to
draw?
A. My friend Dan
Price. My Mom. My Dad. Tommy
Kane. Mattias
Adolfson. Leslie
Brendon. Ralph
Mcquarrie. Tim Cantor.
Gay Kraeger,
Capt. Elaine,
Socaloca,
Hope Carr,
Margaret
Storer Roche, Wendi
Wells, Rymann,
all my Aunts and Uncles, Grandma and Grandpa.
Q. What other interests do you
have besides art?
A. I like percussion instruments so I have a set of Conga’s
and Bongo’s that I like to play. I like playing pool. I also
have over 200 magic tricks. I started buying them and working on
them when I was three years old. I like “sleight of hand”
using sponge balls, coins and cards. I like to swim in the ocean
and in our pool. I like to hike also. We hike a lot in the
mountains.
Here is a link to the interview on Urban Sketchers
Website